Asia Blog

Samuel/ Sunder (S. India): The Blessing of the Hyderabad Conference

"I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” 1 Tim 3:14-15

Dear brothers and sisters,

I just wanted to give you an update on how the Lord blessed those who attended the pastor’s conference that was recently held in Hyderabad. There were around 110 people in attendance; mostly pastors, with a few believers from local churches.

First, let me say “thank you” for your support in providing the resources to allow this event to take place. It was such a privilege to be able to sit and learn from the Word of God those four days. To be honest, it is hard to put into words all the things that we learned in this conference. It was truly a blessing.

The focus of this conference was the local church. While the church in India is getting into a frenzy of activities in order to attract a crowd, we were reminded about the Sufficiency of the Scriptures. We must have a high view of God. The church is defined by its relationship to Him. If we have a low view of God, then we will have a low view of every other doctrine, including our doctrine of the church. We are to conduct ourselves in the household of God, the church of the Living God, with great care, and according to what was written (1 Tim. 3:15). It was a great time of refreshing, correction, ministry evaluation, and renewed commitment.

On the second day, the focus was on the message of the church, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The pastors were warned not to promise what is not promised in the Gospel. We live in a country where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is regularly misquoted and misrepresented, not only through the preaching, but also by the way the church conducts itself. By and large, many churches in India have come to conclusion that unless we attract the crowds with signs, miracles, and wonders, none can come to Christ. It is completely an unknown thing to understand that it is God who saves people through the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. They use tactics, and promise things that the Gospel does not promise in order to make the gospel more attractive. It was refreshing to have the true gospel unpacked in this conference. Oh, how our hearts were warmed as we heard this!

On the third day, we began looking at the leadership of the church. The elder of a church must be a man who is called by God, Biblically qualified, able to teach, and affirmed by the local church. We examined the qualifications of the man who aspires to become an elder, and his call. Failure to adhere to the teachings of the Word in this particular area can result in devastating consequences.

Many brothers and sisters testified that they were immensely affected, and changed by the Word of God. A couple of brothers and sisters from my church were in tears, praising the Lord for this privilege and opportunity to sit under God’s Word. We had a great spiritual feast those four days.

We are grateful to HeartCry for helping train us. We are also thankful for our brothers Jeff and John who came to serve us. We appreciate the sacrifice of their families in allowing them to be with us that week. The church in India is in dire need of sound teachings, so this was a great blessing.